She was created by Lawrence Kasdan, J. J. Abrams, and Michael Arndt for The Force Awakens (2015), the first installment of the sequel film trilogy, and is primarily portrayed by Daisy Ridley.

She faces adversaries such as Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader Snoke and the resurrected Emperor Palpatine—who is revealed to be her grandfather in The Rise of Skywalker.

[11] In 2012, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy invited Michael Arndt to write three screenplays for the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

[13] Arndt struggled with introducing the young woman as the main character while keeping her from being overshadowed by Luke Skywalker, whose role in the film was eventually minimized.

[12] On creating a female lead for the new trilogy, Abrams stated that from his initial discussions with writer Lawrence Kasdan, he was excited at the concept of having a woman at the center of the story.

Her inexperience and lack of exposure were a crucial part of what convinced Abrams to give Ridley the role, as the previous installments had featured relatively unknown talent that would not experience heightened degrees of scrutiny.

"[18] Director Dusan Lazarevic, who was present at the casting of Ridley for a role in British drama series Silent Witness, in addition to praising her acting range, stated, "She showed a combination of vulnerability and strength which gave her a complexity, and there was an intelligence in her eyes that was an indicator she could play quite a complicated part.

[28] On the mirror-invoking vision Rey experiences in The Last Jedi, writer and director Rian Johnson said that it represents the character learning that she has to connect with herself.

[30][33][34][35][36] Rey is introduced in the 2015 film The Force Awakens as a young adult who lives on the desert planet Jakku and survives by scavenging machine parts.

Rey demonstrates immense raw strength and a clear temptation toward the dark side of the Force, which reminds Luke of Ren, who was once his student.

Rey senses Chewbacca is alive and aboard a First Order Star Destroyer, and the group mounts a rescue mission.

After reuniting with her friends at the Resistance base, Rey travels to Tatooine and buries the Skywalker lightsabers near Luke's childhood home.

At Star Wars Celebration 2023, it was announced that Ridley will reprise the role of Rey in an upcoming film directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.

[3][47] Rey is featured in the television film The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special (2020), which is set after the events of The Rise of Skywalker.

[57] When The Force Awakens was released, fans noticed a lack of licensed toys featuring Rey, despite her being the film's main protagonist.

After receiving criticism, Hasbro stated that Rey was withheld to avoid revealing spoilers, and that she would be featured in future toy releases.

[59] Paul Southern, the head of Lucasfilm Licensing, said that they wanted to protect the secrets that "the Force awakens in Rey" and that her character carries a lightsaber.

Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal proclaims that Rey is "a woman warrior with the stylish ferocity of a kung-fu star," praising "the verve [Ridley] must have been born with plus the skill she must have acquired as a young actress coming up in England," and stating, "It's hard to imagine what the movie—and the sequels to come—might have been if they'd cast the wrong person, but here Daisy Ridley is in all her unassuming glory, and all's right with the galaxy.

"[64] Adam Howard of MSNBC states that "one of the most pleasant surprises of the film has been the strength of its lead female character," adding that some have likened Rey to a "new feminist icon".

[68] Screenwriter Max Landis posted a series of tweets in 2015 derisively referring to The Force Awakens as "a fanfic movie with a Mary Sue as the main character".

[68][69] Tasha Robinson of The Verge writes that Rey "keeps falling into standard-issue damsel-in-distress situations, then capably rescuing herself [...] She's a fantasy wish-fulfillment character with outsized skills, an inhuman reaction time, and a clever answer to every question — but so are the other major Star Wars heroes.

[68][70] Other outlets, including Ridley herself, have argued that the term Mary Sue carries an inherent gender bias,[71] and that the male characters from the original trilogy did not face comparable criticism.

"[73] Adrienne Tyler of Screen Rant argued that Rey's abilities are explained in The Rise of Skywalker as resulting from the pair forming a dyad in the Force, sharing the same fighting capabilities.

[74] Rey's unique hairstyle attracted attention before and after The Force Awakens was released,[75] being compared to Leia's hairdo from the original film, with debate over whether it would become as popular.

[77] Richard Roeper described Ridley's portrayal of Rey as "a breakout performance", continuing by calling the character "tough and resourceful and smart and brave".

She added that while Ren "has every reason to be lying" about this, to her mind it is a good thing that "Rey is the child of nobody of particular importance to the story so far.

Joanna Robinson of Vanity Fair interprets the twist as a rebuttal to the themes presented in Episode VIII, calling it "a blow to those fans who eagerly devoured [Rian] Johnson's message that anyone from anywhere can be a Force-wielding hero.

"[100] Inverse similarly argued that the end of the film sees Rey reject "any power her grandfather held over her" and "bury the past", in a completion of the hero's journey.

[101] Following the release of The Rise of Skywalker, Daisy Ridley revealed that the identity of Rey's parents had been in constant flux over the course of the production of the sequel trilogy.

[102] J. J. Abrams then pitched the idea of Palpatine being Rey's grandfather to Ridley during pre-production on Episode IX, although this aspect of her character "kept changing" even into production.